Sacrifice
by TenroseBuddies
Summary: Rose and the Doctor go on an adventure, but not all goes to plan and Rose is left making a decision that may not be entirely her own. Ten/Rose, Whump: Rose
1. Chapter 1

A/N :

I : Hi, It's us again! We're not quite sure where this story came from, somewhere from the back of my brain.

S : We would like to remind you however that the Doctor and Rose do not belong to us (sadly).

I : Actually, they do. I hijacked the TARDIS and they're stuck living in our basement.

S : Isabel, we don't even HAVE a basement. So no, they are not living in our basement, and no, they do not belong to us. They are not characters of our own creation. However, you can still read this story, so continue. Don't read our babble any longer.

* * *

Beautiful blue trees waved on the hillside of the planet Canisellus. The planet was known for its forests and mountains. To the north, gentle hills became steep and miles off mountain range stretched high into the periwinkle sky, the normally light blue grass becoming darker the higher the altitude. Sparkling snow glistened at their peaks. To the south, down a hill, a plain of the same grass stretched out as far as the eye could see. To the west was a forest, sparse trees with deep red trunks and navy leaves became closer together the further they went. Suddenly a whooshing, groaning noise faded into existence and a blue police phone box appeared atop a small hill. A tall, thin man in a brown pinstriped suit stepped out of the box, talking animatedly to a short blonde girl in a purple t-shirt and jeans who looked around the planet in amazement, barely hearing a word he said.

"... and then they tried to throw me into a volcano, volcanos are rubbish don't you think so Rose; but I escaped, well obviously or I wouldn't be talking to you would I?"

Rose stopped taking in the surrounding countryside and looked up at the Doctor, her face scrunched up in concentration.

"They wanted to throw you into a volcano?"

"Yes a volcano Rose, volcano. With lava and all that fun stuff."

She laughed "Ok hold on, they tried to throw you, the Doctor, The Oncoming Storm, into a volcano."

"Yes" he answered seriously.

"Why the 'ell would they do that?" Rose asked him.

"It's a long story" he replied.

"Aw come on, at least tell me why they would want to throw you into a volcano, although, knowing you, I'm not surprised."

"I don't _always_ get myself into trouble Rose, only sometimes."

"Most of the time" she whispered under her breath.

"I heard that" he said.

"How?!" she asked surprised.

"Super Gallifreyan hearing abilities." he replied very seriously, "And for your information the reason they were attempting to throw me in a volcano was because they thought I would 'appease the gods' or something."

Rose snorted at that and almost fell over from laughter. He caught her and helped her regain her balance.

"What, you don't think I would appease the gods?" he said.

"No... it's just..." she choked out between fits of laughter. "Don't you think you'd be a bit stringy?" she added with a serious expression. It was the Doctor's turn to laugh now.

"I don't think I'd taste _that_ bad. Anyways, I like to think I deprived them of a complete Christmas dinner."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that."

"You know, instead of arguing about whether or not I'd taste good, we should probably explore a bit, don't you think?"

"Yes. But you would be stringy." she added under her breath.

"Well then, Allons-y!" he said, ignoring what she'd said, and grabbed her hand pulling her down the hill. They ran towards the bottom full pelt when suddenly Rose tripped and fell, pulling the Doctor down with her. He fell too and they rolled head over heels together down the hill. They finally stopped at the bottom, laughing so hard they couldn't stand up. The Doctor finally managed it and upon standing held out his hand to Rose.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Yep, never better." she replied, smiling, and grabbed his hand to help herself up.

She flattened down her hair and straightened out her shirt. The Doctor looked around at their surroundings. They were in a clearing of light blue grass surrounded by trees with deep red trunks and navy blue leaves.

"It's beautiful!" Rose exclaimed, looking around.

"Just like you." The Doctor muttered under his breath.

"What did you just say?" she said, whipping her head around to look at him. Her face starting to turn the color of the tree trunks.

"Nothing." he replied.

"I definitely heard something." she said.

"Nope I didn't say a thing."

She watched him carefully.

"Well if you don't want to admit that you just compared me to a red and blue tree we'll be on our way." She said heading for the forest.

The Doctor looked after her his jaw dropping. How had she heard him?

He walked though the forest, Rose in front of him. They wandered for about five minutes until Rose decided that she wanted to climb one of the trees to get a good view of the forest around them. The Doctor had a bad feeling about it but helped her up anyway. She climbed up through the branches and disappeared from sight. After only a couple seconds the Doctor became worried.

"Rose..." he called up, "are you alright up there?"

Her head poked out of the leaves, "I'm fine, stop worrying so much, it's not like I'm gonna get lost."

The Doctor stood at the bottom of the tree, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for Rose to come back down. He looked around and noticed the trees were a lot closer together here than he had realized. It was making him even more nervous.

"Rose..." he called again, "I think you should come back down."

"Why?" he heard her shout from above, "I can see the whole forest from here and something that looks kinda like a pyramid."

"I really think you should come down." he repeated nervously.

"Fine, I'm coming." she told him and started to climb down.

I had only been half a minute when the Doctor shouted again, "Rose, are you coming?"

Her head popped through the lower branches, "I'm almost there, be patient. What are you so worried about anyway?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this forest." he replied.

Seconds later Rose hit the ground with a soft thud and upon seeing the Doctor's nervous expression she held his hand comfortingly.

"Doctor," she said soothingly, "We'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about..." she stopped talking abruptly, looking at one of the trees behind the Doctor. Her eyes were wide and she had a look of fear upon her face.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked, turning around quickly and grasping her hand tight.

"Look." she whispered, pointing up.

He raised his head and squinted to see what she was pointing at. Amongst the blue leaves a pair of golden cat-like eyes was staring straight back at him. He stood very still and squeezed Rose's hand.

"What is it?" she whispered to him.

"I don't know, but stay very, very still. I don't like the way it's looking at us and by the appearance of it's eyes I'd say it was an intelligent predator." he whispered back.

"Oh." she said.

It continued to look at them and the Doctor swore he could make out a leopard-like tail swinging back and forth in the branches. Suddenly the eyes blinked and were gone.

In seconds there was a hiss behind them. Rose yelped in alarm as a strong tail swiped her off her feet. She hit the ground hard, letting out a small whimper as her breath was knocked away. The sound of a second body hitting the ground alerted her that the Doctor had been hit too. Golden cat-like eyes filled the space above where Rose was laying on the forest floor. A voice like nails on a chalkboard filled the silence.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

Rose could feel it's hot breath on her neck and she shivered. She tried to move but the hot breath was abruptly replaced by something sharp and cold, she immediately ceased her movements and even her breath got shallow, she tried not to swallow.

"I'm John, John Smith and this is... Ella Brooklyn, my, er, my traveling companion. We were just exploring, we mean no harm." the Doctor lied.

"This is sacred land trespasser. You have no right to be here. You will come with me."

Rose stood up, the knife still to her neck, and looked at her captor. The woman looked human enough, her deep brown skin was smooth and covered in tribal paint. Her hair was black and wiry and she wore a knee length fur dress. The smooth fur was deep red to blend in with the surroundings Rose supposed. The interesting bit was the fact that the woman had leopard legs, her feet were clawed and shoeless. Her tail whipped around angrily behind her, her mouth curved into a scowl.

The Doctor stood up and moved to Rose but the woman snarled at him, baring sharp yellowing teeth and pressed the knife further towards Rose's neck.

"Move again male and I will kill your female, shame, she has a strong heart."

"She's not _mine,_ she's just my friend." he retorted quietly but moved no further towards them.

"Come." the woman said and Rose began to walk through the forest. The Doctor followed warily after them, not wanting to let Rose out of his sight. He was genuinely worried about her, what if she got hurt? He would never be able to live with himself if she was killed. He wished they'd never come to this planet.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N :

S : Hello again faithful reader.

I : This is the new chapter, hope you enjoy it. It's really late though and she's making me stay up. But I quit and I'm going to sleep.

S : Well, what a party-pooper. But she's right, hope you enjoy this chapter! Bye for now.

* * *

Rose tried to glance behind her to see if the Doctor would follow, But the knife on her neck tightened and she continued to walk looking straight ahead. 'He would follow wouldn't he?' she thought. 'Of course he would' she told herself, 'hadn't he just called her beautiful before they got in this mess in the first place?' They walked on in silence, Rose desperately wanting to ask where they were going but not daring to speak.

After a while the trees thinned into another clearing. They steeped out of the thick underbrush as they entered the clearing completely. Rose swallowed her gasp at the sight of the temple that loomed ominously in front of them. It looked similar to an old Aztec pyramid. Rose had learned about the Aztecs at school, she found it quite dull really. The stone it was made of looked crumbled and old. Red stone dust clung loosely to the outside of the building. Rose could see more cat people patrolling along the walls watching them with their unfriendly yellow eyes.

"Where are you taking me?" Rose finally asked.

"You are not permitted to speak." the catlike girl answered tightening the knife on her throat.

They kept walking closer to the temple. With the better view Rose could see that intricate carvings covered every wall, depicting scenes of a mighty battle long since won and at the very top of the pyramid was a carving of a superior-looking cat-woman surrounded by her servants. Rose figured she was the god (or goddess?) of this civilization and desperately hoped she wasn't appeased by human sacrifices, though from the way Rose's day had been going so far she assumed she wouldn't be as lucky.

They began to ascend the stairs and Rose noticed designs and patterns carved into the stone on the steps leading to the entrance. As they continued more catlike people joined in, leaping gracefully off the walls to slink behind them. They finally reached the temple doors. With a mighty grinding of stone against stone and a shower of dust they swung open and Rose stopped suddenly with fear.

"Keep moving" The girl told her threateningly. Rose walked slowly forward but continued wishing that the Doctor were by her side, his hand securely in hers as he spewed random facts about how the temple was built. Even though she hardly ever listened to him, she just liked the sound of his voice as he talked nonstop.

They approached a throne-like chair where an ancient woman of the same species sat, her tail flicking in a bored manner.

Rose's captor cleared her throat, and spoke, her gravely voice filling the hall.

"Ma'am, we found this girl and her male wandering in our sacred wood."

"Dispose of them instantly." the empress spoke.

"Wait wait wait." The Doctor spoke from somewhere behind Rose and her captor. "We didn't know it was your sacred wood, we were just wandering we're very sorry. We were just leaving too weren't we Rose?" he said.

Rose could feel the empress's eyes watching her carefully. Rose nodded slowly, instantly regretting it as the knife tightened.

The empress nodded over at Rose's captor. The woman shifted letting the knife go from Rose's neck, but before Rose could breathe a sigh of relief her arm was grabbed forcefully and the knife lowered to her forearm.

"You will not speak unless spoken too" The woman hissed at the Doctor. "Or your female will be punished."

"But she hasn't done anything wrong!" The Doctor shouted.

The knife was lowered and it pierced Rose's skin. Rose yelled out as her captor dragged the knife down her arm dark red blood running down to her fingers and dropping to the floor.

The Doctor shut his mouth and looked away tears glistening in his eyes. Rose's captor pulled the knife away and Rose covered up the cut so the Doctor wouldn't see how bad it was.

The empress looked over at Rose her eyes piercing into her soul.

"I would like to hear your side of the story." She said.

Rose spoke up her voice quiet as she choked back sobs. "Like he said we were just wandering we had no idea we were in your sacred wood we had no intention of staying. We're very sorry."

"Put them in the dungeons, we'll have them executed in three days time." The empress spoke again.

"Please forgive me for speaking without permission ma'am. But the female, she has a strong heart. She may be a good warrior one day, if we can manage to train her." Rose's captor said.

"Perhaps..." The empress said. "She will have three days to prove herself or she will be executed with the male. Now take them to the dungeons."

"Very well ma'am." Rose's captor said. "You heard her now shift!" she growled at them.

The Doctor rushed to Rose's side and reached for her hand.

"No touching!" Their captor hissed at them.

Rose was thankful for that because her arm was still hurting quite badly, and she didn't want to draw attention to herself. They continued walking, the Doctor leading the way even though he didn't know where they were going. "Turn right." Their captor told the Doctor. They turned into a dark looking hallway. The further they went the darker it got. until they reached a small cell with a lantern lighting up the space. Their captor pushed them in the cell and slammed the door closed, locking it before stalking off in the other direction.

"You can't do this to us!" Rose shouted after her.

"Rose they won't listen" The Doctor answered. He reached for her arm. "Now let me see" he said softly. She was so comforted by his voice that her brain seemed to turn to mush as she watched him carefully pull her other hand away from the cut.

"Oh Rose, I'm so sorry this is all my fault." He said.

"You didn't know they would do that so it's not your fault." She answered warmly. She stepped away and suddenly got dizzy and fell sideways into the old and slightly rusted bars of the cell.

"Rose!" the Doctor yelled out. "What's wrong?"

"I just got a bit dizzy that's all. I'm perfectly fine."

"Rose you're not fine." He took her arm and looked at the cut again. It was still bleeding and her whole arm was covered in blood as drops of it ran down her fingers and on to the ground. The Doctor pulled a hanky from his pocket and covered the cut with it, but it was ineffective and the blood seeped through. The Doctor took a deep breath and reached in his pocket pulling out a needle and some waxed thread.

"Rose the cut is really deep so I'm going to have to stitch it up."

"I'm assuming you don't have anything to numb the pain." she said nervously.

"No I don't. So you're just going to have to be very brave."

She nodded, "Yeah I can do that," she lied.

The Doctor got the needle threaded and reached for Rose's arm. She pulled away.

"Rose..." the Doctor said.

"No, I can't stand needles."

"Well we don't have a choice right now or you're going to bleed out and die in this stupid dungeon and your mum will never know what happened to you."

"Don't you dare mention my mum." Rose answered her eyes full of hurt and anger.

"If it's the only way to knock some sense into your head then so be it."

"Doctor... why are you so angry?" Rose asked.

"I'm not angry I'm just scared." He answered sadly.

"You, the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm scared because of a little blood?" She said laughing.

"Rose it's not just a little blood." He said.

"Ok, stitch it up then. I can be brave, but just this once." She said.

"Rose you're always brave. In fact you're the bravest person I've ever met."

"Well hurry up before I change my mind" She said.

The Doctor carefully started stitching up the cut Rose tried to take deep breaths and remain calm. It hurt so bad that she eventually slumped over passed out against the wall as the Doctor worked. He finished tying off the stitches and cleaning up the blood as best as he could. He pulled out a bandage from his pockets and wrapped it securely around the wound covering up the zipper-like pattern that now went up her forearm. He felt terrible, it was all his fault she'd been cut. How would he explain to Jackie that it was his fault her daughter would have a thin scar on her arm for the rest of her life?

The Doctor took his long coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders making her as comfortable as he could. He began to pace the small cell, desperately trying to think of a way out. He couldn't let Rose face these challenges whatever they were, what if she got hurt even more? She had already lost a lot of blood and all she needed was rest. He finally went to sit against the opposite wall. He looked over at Rose, she looked so peaceful when she was asleep, no pain was visible on her face. He couldn't help thinking that someday, because of him, she'd suffer worse injuries and it would claim her life. He was filled with overwhelming sorrow at the thought and a single tear escaped from his eye and fell down his cheek. Soon however, his sadness was replaced by anger. These people, he decided, whoever they were, would pay for what they'd done.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N :

S : Here's the next chapter! These updates are coming pretty quickly because it's already written but when it comes time to publish chapter 6 I am afraid I am little behind on my editing. So. Much. Homework.

I : And, thanks to my 'wonderful' big sister, I am now suffering from the worst cold ever so writing is going a bit slow.

S : It's not my fault!

I : Yes it is.

S : Okay maybe, but I didn't do it on purpose.

I : Yeah, okay...

* * *

The next morning Rose awoke and saw the Doctor sitting across the cell watching her. She had his coat on her shoulders and her arm was bandaged. There was a small stinging feeling coming from where the cut had been.

"Wha-?" She asked groggily, looking at the bandage.

"I stitched up the cut, it stopped bleeding and you should be fine now," he answered her.

She started to get up and got dizzy. The Doctor rushed to her side holding her good arm to keep her steady.

"You still lost a lot of blood. You can't be up and walking around yet." He told her.

He helped her sit back down setting her against the rusty bars for support.

"How are we gonna get out of this one?" She asked jokingly.

"I don't know Rose, I just don't know." He answered sadly.

"Well that's not like you, not knowing something. What about the sonic, we can break the lock." She said.

"Rose I don't have the sonic I lost in the woods when we were attacked." He answered looking at the floor.

"Oh..." she said sadly, "I just want to go home."

The Doctor watched her carefully. Her words had hit a sore spot in his hearts. So his thoughts had been correct, she didn't want anything to do with him, she just wanted to go home and leave him behind. But how could he blame her after she'd been cut because of his gob? Taking her home, such a small thing, the thing he'd always dreaded. But now he couldn't even do that. He put his head in his hands refusing to look at her.

"I'm sorry Rose I'm so so sorry. This is all my fault."

"It's not your fault." she said moving across the small room to sit next to him.

"No, it is my fault. All my fault."

"Hey, look at me" She whispered softly pulling his hands away from his face. "It's not your fault, okay? Repeat after me, It's not my fault."

"It is my fault" He said.

"No, that's not what I said. Repeat these exact words: It's not my fault."

"It's not my fault" he repeated.

"Good, now never stop believing that, because you know it's not your fault that these crazy cat ladies decided we were to be abducted." she said, looking into his eyes.

He looked anywhere but back at her.

They heard footsteps coming down the hallway and Rose let go of his hands trying to stand up.

"No don't stand, you've lost too much blood." He said.

Their captor from the day before opened the lock and the door swung open.

"All we require is the female. You will stay put until your execution." She told the Doctor.

"Where are you taking me?" Rose spoke up.

"You will be taken to join the other apprentices. Your challenge will take place in the northern woods today at sun-high." She answered. "Now get going. You'll have time to get acquainted with the others but only so much."

Rose started to stand and fell into the Doctor's arms. Her face was an alarming pale color.

"What did you do to her?!" Their captor asked.

"Actually it's more like what did _you_ do to her?" The Doctor spat back. "When you cut her arm she lost too much blood, she can't do your stupid challenge or she'll pass out!" he was really starting to get angry now.

"No, I'm fine, I can do it." Rose answered. She took a step and then another towards the door. She became paler with each step she took. Her captor took her by the arm and she cried out as she was grabbed around the bandage.

"Be careful with her!" the Doctor hissed after them "Or you'll regret you were ever born."

"No speaking without permission" Rose's captor growled back, tightening her grip on Rose's bad arm.

Rose cried out again, and the Doctor turned away facing the back wall. The grip lessened but the pain had returned like fire rushing through Rose's veins. She was led off the direction they'd come the night before. Rose turned around and saw the Doctor helplessly grabbing the bars watching her go. ' _Not your fault'._ She mouthed back at him before they turned the corner.

Rose was led down a different hallway and they emerged into a courtyard with small huts dotted along the way. They were made of mud and straw, with big sticks, or logs, as supports. There was a bigger looking hut in the center and she was led towards it. When they reached the door she was rudely pushed through the entrance.

"Oi! watch it!" She barked back at her captor.

"This is where you will be staying with the other apprentices during your three day challenge."

"Wait, but you have to take me back to my cell because I'm still a prisoner." Rose pointed out. Truthfully, she just wanted to be with the Doctor. He needed her now more than anything, before he started doing stupid things, and blaming himself for inviting her to travel with him. Surely he knew that not every place they went would be safe. They'd been thrown in jail many times before, and he never blamed himself then. So why was he so sad now?

"You are an apprentice now. You will not be returning to your cell. You will be staying here with the others although your rules and curfew may be different from those of our own people." Her captor told her.

"Well that's just not fair is it?" Rose muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" her captor asked.

"Nothing" Rose answered.

Rose entered the room the rest of the way, taking in her surroundings. there were bunk beds pushed up against the walls all around the room and in the center several other cat-like girls sat around a small fire. Rose turned around and saw that her captor was gone. She could make a run for it. Run out across the countryside all the way back to the TARDIS and figure out a way to get the Doctor back and then they could go on a nice relaxing vacation to some beach a million light-years away, and put all their worries behind them. But she was willing to bet these cat like girls could kill with one swift movement striking her down before she could even get out the door. Plus she was feeling extremely dizzy from their walk here.

"Hello, my name is Ro- Ella." she corrected herself.

"Ro-Ella?" One of the girls asked with a confused look. "What kind of name is that?"

"It's just Ella." Rose corrected her.

When no one said anything new Rose moved to slump against the wall in the corner. She could feel her face turning red the tears threatening to come. She just wanted the Doctor to show up and take her far away from here. To hug her and tell her it was all going to be alright. But he couldn't because he was locked up in a stupid cell, and it was all her responsibility to find a way out of this mess. She heard someone come and sit next to her. She looked over and saw a girl a bit smaller than the others the fur on her legs and tail a sandy, dusty color.

"Why do you look so sad?" She asked. "You should be excited you get to take part in the initiation of becoming a warrior. You must have a strong heart for the empress to change her mind about killing you."

"I suppose" Rose said sadly.

"So, why are you sad?" She asked again.

"I'm not sad, I'm just worried about my friend." Rose answered.

"You shouldn't even be thinking about him, your not aloud too. If they find out they'll kill him, and then you."

"What? Why would they do that?" Rose said with a panicky tone to her voice.

"Because the Canisellus tribe swears off the company or thoughts of men."

"So if I think about him they'll know."

"No, but if you show any affection towards him they will."

"This is sick! Your all sick!" Rose shouted jumping up. She instantly regretted it as she became dizzy again. She made to move towards the door but the girl stopped her.

"Don't try to escape or they'll hurt you. If you want to live you just have to listen to me." She whispered hurriedly.

Rose calmed down and sat back down on the wall again. By now the other girls were watching her with their bright yellow eyes.

"What are you lookin' at?" She shouted at them. "Can't you just leave me alone!"

If she were on the TARDIS she could go hide away in her room and the Doctor wouldn't bother her until she was ready to talk. But here in this room there was nowhere to hide but in her small corner against the wall, and that didn't stop all of them from staring at her. Finally a new woman entered the room.

"You will all participate in todays challenge. It will take place in the northern woods. You will gather in groups of two and hunt down a huiusimodi deer. Each team will be given one bow with six arrows and a knife. Good luck."

Rose turned to her new friend, could she even be called that? Sadly she was the only person, well cat, that Rose even felt like talking too.

"Yeah I'll be on your team." She answered before Rose could even ask.

They headed out the door following the woman to the northern woods. Rose just wanted to get this over with so she could go hide in her corner and think about a way to get out of here. When they reached the edge of the woods three more cat woman waited there and started handing out the bows, arrows and knifes. Rose was hopping her new friend would do all the killing because she wasn't in the mood to kill a huiusimodi deer whatever that was. She followed her friend to the tree line and they disappeared into the thick underbrush.

Once out of earshot Rose turned to her new friend. "You never told me your name."

"Harenam." She answered ducking under a branch. Rose followed close behind.

"So what exactly does a huiusimodi deer look like?" Rose asked.

"Well they're decently sized creatures with six legs and three antlers. Their coat is a deep red to blend in with the trunks so they're pretty hard to spot. Lucky for us it rained last night so we may be able to track it. Their tracks have three toes on each foot." She stopped suddenly and Rose almost ran into her. "Look." she whispered pointing at the light red mud. Sure enough there were three toed tracks leading through the mud.

"What about that?" Rose asked pointing at a paw like print. Hare, as Rose had taken to calling her, because it was easier to say, gasped.

"Magna felis." She whispered to Rose.

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"It's a very big, very dangerous, cat. They have dark blue pelts with darker red stripes and lighter red spots on their legs and face. They're extremely dangerous, very few have ever managed to kill it, and it seems we're not the only ones hunting this deer."

Rose shivered and looked around. They continued walking, the tracks looking fresher the further they went. Unfortunately, the paw prints continued as well. Finally the tracks stopped and Rose looked around, confused.

"Where did the tracks go?" Rose asked Hare.

"Look." She said pointing up in the trees.

Rose looked and only a few trees away the beautiful coat of a huiusimodi deer could be seen. Rose picked up the bow, readying the arrow, though if it came to it Rose had no idea how to shoot it.

"I don't think you'll need that." Hare said.

Rose looked closer and could see the deer's body was hanging from the branches. Its coat was stained with green blood and it's lifeless eyes stared back at her. She gasped and covered her mouth. She felt like she was going to throw up. Hare nudged her and pointed in another direction, and moving carefully through the underbrush headed straight towards them was the biggest cat Rose had ever seen.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N :

S : Happy Wednesday everyone! It's finals week! For me at least. Also I have a hole in the bottom of my foot from stepping on some Christmas lights this morning.

I : And I'm an awkward potato.

* * *

Rose's heart began to quicken its pace in fear and adrenaline. The magna felis did indeed have a blue and red coat. Deep red stripes danced gracefully over its pelt and faded into spots approaching its head and legs, muscles rippled smoothly as it stalked closer. It fixed a pair of menacing orange eyes on Rose, staring her down. It bared its razor-like teeth, stained green with the blood of its latest victim. Rose hoped that those teeth were not destined to be stained red in mere minutes. Hare carefully grabbed the bow from her and pressed the handle of the knife into her hand.

"Protect yourself." she whispered. Rose swallowed hard and nodded. Hare carefully drew the bow. She let the arrow fly and it grazed the magna felis's coat, a few drops of green blood showing. It let out a deep growl and charged straight for Rose. She turned to run but knew she wouldn't get far as her head started to spin again because of loss of blood. She heard its heavy paw steps hitting the ground behind her. This cat was easily the size of a horse If one of it's paws hit her head she would probably die instantly. She decided her chances of fighting outweighed the chance she would get away by running. She turned pointing the knife in front of her Hare tossed her the bow.

"How the 'ell is this suppose to help?" she yelled. Just as she went to throw it back, the cat leaped, colliding into Rose and knocking her to the ground. She couldn't breath and she felt extremely dizzy. She was on the verge of passing out. It bared its teeth and went in for the kill. Finding her remaining strength, Rose thrust the bow up at its mouth and winced as its teeth grazed over her arm. The bow stopped the cat, wedging in-between her and its mouth. The magna felis pushed down and the bow splintered just as Rose managed to stab the knife blindly up. There was a sickening screech that echoed through the woods as the knife found its mark, instantly killing the creature. Its whole weight crashed down on Rose. She couldn't breath. She had just been one of the first people to kill this dangerous beast and here she was, dying because its dead body had landed on her. Hare rushed over, pushing as hard as she could to free Rose. The dead cat moved just enough for Rose to wiggle out from beneath it. She moved to lean up against a tree, attempting vainly to catch her breath. She was still holding the small knife, green blood covered the blade and part of her hand. Hare was moving around the cat, poking it with an arrow.

"It's definitely dead. That was incredible. There's only one place to stab and effectively kill a magna felis, and you found it, " she told Rose. Rose however, was still in shock, sitting there staring at the knife.

"We need to skin it and take the pelt back. We may not have killed a huiusimodi deer but we did kill a magna felis." Hare said grinning.

" _I_ killed a magna felis, you just pissed it off." Rose managed to point out.

"Fair enough." Hare answered. She took the knife from Rose and worked on skinning the creature.

"Go clean up in that pond over there. You look dreadful." Hare said.

Rose got up carefully so her head didn't spin to much and walked towards the pond. The water was a light blue color sort of like the sky. She splashed the water on her arms washing the green blood off. She had to take her bandage off exposing the stitches on her forearm. A few of them had broke but she wasn't bleeding badly. She looked on her other arm where the cat's teeth had hit her, but thankfully there were no injuries. For all she knew that cat could have been venomous. She walked back to where Hare was waiting holding up the cats pelt triumphantly. Rose took half of it, cringing at the smell, and they worked together on carrying the heavy skin back to the village.

On the way there Rose thought again about running for it and going back to the TARDIS just like she had earlier that day. But she decided against it in the end, thinking that they would know she had tried to escape and in turn they'd probably hurt the Doctor. Finally they reached the entrance to the woods and several cat women helped Rose and Hare carry the heavy pelt back to the village. They laid it on a tanning rack and headed back to their hut. Many cat people stopped to watch them go. Rumours had spread about the new stranger girl who had managed to kill a magna felis upon her second day arriving in their village.

When they reached the hut Rose headed back to her corner, refusing to sleep in one of the beds. Hare brought her a blanket and a pillow and then headed off to sleep. Rose sat in her corner all night trying to sleep, but she was finding it increasingly difficult. She missed her soft and very comfortable bed in the TARDIS. Even one of the chairs in the library would have worked fine, with the fire crackling away as the Doctor read to her about different planets and told her stories about adventures he'd went on before he met her. The more Rose thought about the Doctor and the TARDIS, the sadder she became. She wiped at her eyes and realized she was crying. She continued crying, finding she had no control over it, stuffing her face into the pillow to muffle her sobs.

Rose woke later. Her eyes felt puffy, sometime in the night she had cried herself to sleep. She hoped she hadn't bothered anyone with her inability to fall asleep. She looked around to see other girls had started to wake and gather around the fire for breakfast.

They started to cook some strange looking meat, and a few minutes later they passed it around putting it on clay plates. Hare came to sit next to Rose again and handed her a plate of meat.

"Here, you'll need your strength today." she said. Rose took a bite. It tasted less than delicious. She swallowed not wanting to be rude by spitting it out. She handed Hare her plate.

"No good?" Hare asked with a face.

"It's just different that's all." Rose answered politely. She hoped they were feeding the Doctor too she didn't want him to starve to death in that dingy cell. The other girls talked in hushed voices and kept glancing over at Rose and Hare. Rose eventually got sick of it and went to sit outside in the morning air. It was colder outside but she didn't care as long as she didn't have to sit there and watch them gossip about her. Hare brought her some different food and a glass filled with some kind of strange juice. The food was okay but the juice was one of the best things she'd ever tasted. She sat outside for the rest of the morning, downing two more cups of the amazing juice while watching people as they went about their daily lives. She felt a little out of place, sitting there and staring. But against her bright personality she began to hope that the looks they gave her were from fear and not curiosity. She wanted them to fear her, wanted them to think about the strange girl who had killed the magna felis, and worry about their own safety when they slept at night. She wanted to strike fear deep into their hearts for what they'd done to her and her Doctor, and so far she could say she was doing well as parents rushed their children into the safety of the huts risking one last glance at her... the Bad Wolf.

Several hours later the same cat woman from before gathered the girls outside the hut glancing at Rose fearfully. She almost laughed out loud. But decided to play it safe and give her an innocent smile.

"Today's challenge will take place in the fighting ring. You will each be given a staff to represent a sword, or a small stick to represent a dagger. Choose carefully," she added. "No real weapons will be needed today, for you will be fighting each other. Now please, follow me." she said leading the group off towards the fighting ring. Hare fell into step beside Rose.

"Which one are you gonna choose?" she asked.

"Probably the small stick considering I did kill a magna felis yesterday with nothing but a flimsy dagger."

"That was an accident." Hare whispered laughing.

"I guess but I've still got a better chance than I would with a staff, I'm clumsy as a blind badger, I'd poke my own eye out before I did actual damage to anyone else." She said, laughing with Hare.

When they reached the fighting ring they were led to a side hut where they each made their decisions, Rose choosing the small stick like she had told Hare. They were ushered out to the ring in pairs of two. Rose sat waiting in the hut anxiously, wondering if she'd be able to successfully pass this test until Rose was left alone with a mean looking girl with jet black fur on her legs and tail.

"Did you really kill a magna felis or did you find a elder who had died of old age?" She said scoffing at Rose.

"Oh, I should probably mention, I did kill one, a live, young magna felis with nothing but an empty bow and a small knife." Rose answered holding up the small stick in the light and pretending to examine it. The girl swallowed and looked away.

They were ushered out into the ring moments later, and told the rules.

"Try not to kill each other." A bored looking cat lady told them "We don't want to be cleaning up dead bodies, it's very bad for our reputation etcetera, etcetera." she finished, stepping up to a podium. "You may begin."

The other girl launched at Rose and she quickly jumped aside. Rose's head started spinning and she went alarmingly pale. What would they think of her if she just passed out? Would they think her dead and bury her alive? Rose decided it was safer if she just didn't pass out and took a deep breath, attempting to steady herself. She refocused her mind and made her move, launching forward like an expert although she had never done this before in her life. The other girl had a staff so Rose had to move fast to get close to her, which was very bad as her vision blurred each time she made a sudden movement. They danced around each other each trying, and failing, to hit the other. It was several minutes, and quite a few dizzy spells and lucky dodges, until Rose had a stroke of luck, lunging forward and sliding across the sand on her knees, slashing the girl's side with her stick. The judge cat hit a drum and they were ushered out of the fighting ring and straight back to their hut.

When they got there everyone was given more juice and then sent to bed. Rose went back to her corner with her bundle of blankets, a cup of juice in hand, and curled up hugging her knees to her chest. What if she was chosen to be a warrior? Hare had told her that tomorrow they chose their potential warrior names and were taken to the sacred temple where their last challenge awaited them. ' _Sacrifices to the gods'_ Hare had said. Rose was excited and nervous, part of her wanted to become a warrior but another part of her brain kept nagging her, telling her there was something important she should be remembering. Instead of trying to think about it she had two more cups of delicious juice and decided to turn in for the night. She got little sleep however, as the voice in her head was anxiously yelling at her to listen.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N :

S : I got home today and found that my dog had thrown up on my bed. It was utterly disgusting and I didn't know it was there until I put my foot in it.

I : Yesterday I was an awkward potato, but today, I'm a majestic potato. Oh, and here's the new chapter. Hope you like it.

* * *

The Doctor dreamt he was on Gallifrey again. The twin suns shone down on the citadel and he gazed towards the mountains, remembering the House of Lungbarrow and his lonely childhood. None of his cousins had liked him very much, but he'd stopped minding it once he'd started at the Academy, he had been much more focused on his work.

He strolled through the deep red grass, hands in the pockets of his pinstriped suit, wondering how he'd managed to get on Gallifrey in the first place. He looked around and something caught his eye. It looked like- no, it couldn't be. It looked like a dalek ship. As he watched more and more ships flew closer to the citadel, firing lasers and causing buildings to explode. He started running towards the city, wanting to help in any way he could, but then the world dissipated around him and the scene changed.

This time he was in the midst of the biggest battle in the Time War. He watched as his friends and family died around him. He tried so hard to stop the daleks, but in the end he decided he'd have to do it, he'd have to use the Moment to end this terrible war. His dream flashed to the day he'd pressed the big red button, he'd always wanted a big red button, but not like this. He set his hand on it and pushed...

The Doctor snapped awake, breathing hard. He'd been lying on the cold dirt floor of his cell and his back was incredibly sore. That was the third nightmare about the Time War he'd had in the last two days, actually, to be precise, he had been there for two days, six hours, five minutes, and forty-seven seconds. He was worried about Rose, he never stopped worrying really. Every time he took her on an adventure he tried to be sure there was a way out, a plan B, some way for her to not get hurt. But here he was, hoping she would be able to stay alert for the 'challenges', as the empress had called them, after she'd been cut because of his never ending chatter.

The Doctor had been trying to speak to Rose mentally to give her advice and concoct a plan but she kept shutting him out. He had been surprised of her telepathic abilities but he knew Rose was stronger than she looked and she would probably beat every person she went up against, without his advice, but he still wondered how they would get out of their plight this time. The TARDIS was a good distance away, if they even tried to escape they'd be shot down the second someone spotted them. He also didn't have his sonic-screwdriver, so no help from that. He just had to trust Rose to find her way out, she was more than capable, he assured himself, she'd been in much worse situations than this.

While sitting in the dust, thinking, the Doctor came to terms with the fact that he was completely relying on Rose to get him out. So, he leaned back and pulled a Chinese finger trap from his pocket. The little human invention was so simple, and yet, so transfixing. He played with it for a while until he heard someone outside his cell. He looked up and was not surprised to see a cat-woman, looking at him cautiously as she unlocked the door. What did surprise him was the fact that she didn't have any food with her. The only time they ever visited the cell was to give him food. For some reason, he had no idea as to what it was, they had been giving him lots of high quality meals. None of which he ate, but he had been a little confused with their behavior. They seemed to frown upon him in this society, and yet, took the time and effort to feed him well.

She approached him slowly, as if afraid he'd jump up at any second.

"You have been summoned," she started, "The empress wishes to speak with you."

"Really?" he asked. He was sure the empress had not liked him one bit.

"Yes." she replied, "I have been asked to escort you to the temple. So follow me." she turned and walked out the door without another word. He got up and followed her, curious more than anything to see exactly what these crazy ladies were up to.

* * *

The walk to the temple was short, however he hadn't seen Rose when he'd passed through the village. Maybe she was in a separate section for apprentices only. But he had seen many villagers. They all stared at him with loathing, he couldn't understand why they hated him so much. He liked to think he was pretty easy to get along with, but then, he wasn't really a cat person.

When they arrived at the entrance the Doctor realized that this wasn't where he and Rose had first met the empress. Maybe this was her private office or something, a very finely carved and decorated private office. The doors swung open slowly with a grinding sound. Flecks of dust stuck in his hair and he ran his fingers through it to try to get rid of the red particles.

Inside the temple was gloomy and as his eyes adjusted to the light, the Doctor saw the empress sitting in an elegant seat carved from stone. She was seated above the ground on a balcony of sorts. He wondered for a split second why she was up there but then his eyes travelled back to the ground. Beneath her was a table that looked awfully like a sacrificial alter. He got a sudden sinking feeling that he had not been brought here to talk. Turning around quickly to find a way of escape, he found his path blocked by two guards with bows, ready to shoot if he tried anything. He turned back to the empress and gulped.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N :

S : Hello, it's just me today. I'm going to give a fair warning and tell you guys that the only reason we've been updating so quickly is because most of it is already written. Chapter 7 is the last prewritten one so Isabel and I will be working on Chapter 8 tomorrow but I can't promise it will be posted on Sunday night. It might not be till Monday. After Chapter 8 is posted expect at least two days before updates. On a better note, hope you enjoy this chapter, it has a particularly nasty cliffhanger, sorry. Actually, I'm not. Muahahaha!

* * *

"Am I going mad?" Rose asked Hare over breakfast, sipping on yet another cup of juice and telling her about the voice in her head. It kept saying her name over and over. _'Rose...'_ it would whisper, even now, it was getting annoying. Hare just told her to ignore it so Rose pushed it to the back of her mind. She drank more juice after breakfast, it was the only thing she agreed to put in her stomach as their food tasted horrible. She watched the other girls talk to each other and every once in a while one would look in her direction. She figured they all knew at least someone who'd already become a warrior and they were well aware what the final challenge was. Rose however, had no clue what she was up against this time. She didn't even know anything about their society. 'How will I survive if I become a warrior?' she questioned herself.

* * *

Rose and her fellow initiates spent all day preparing for the final challenge. They were assigned specific tribal outfits that Rose was reluctant to put on. The dress wasn't particularly flattering, although hers was made of the magna felis pelt. It was surprisingly modest however and went to Rose's knees, the neckline was fashioned in a big 'U', efficiently covering up her chest. She was still wearing her jeans underneath though, just in case she needed pockets for something. The accompanying headdress on the other hand, was absolutely hideous. Various brown and dull blue feathers stuck up at all angles.

"They actually expect me to _wear_ that thing?" Rose asked Hare, after staring at it for a full five minutes.

"It's traditional tribal garb, every potential warrior must wear it." Hare replied, setting her own headdress gently on her head.

"Well traditional or not, it still looks like a dead bird on a hat." Rose replied. She picked it up as if it might bite her and put it on her head. It added a slight weight and she became top heavy, stumbling towards Hare who caught her.

"You alright?" she asked Rose.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rose replied, lying a little bit to her fairly new friend. Rose actually had a tremendous headache, her brain was acting as if she was taking a test and needed to remember a very important answer. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to soothe her mind. Deciding it wasn't enough she went to get another glass of juice. After drinking it she found the feeling was gone and the voice that had been plaguing her earlier was silenced.

A cat lady appeared at the door that evening sending them each away in turn. They each went with a different escort who's job was to take them to the sacred temple where they would make their sacrifices and ask the gods to make them warriors. Then they would be either approved or turned down by the empress. Nobody knew what happened if the gods refused to make you a warrior or if the empress turned you down but Rose didn't think it would be good.

Rose was one of the last to leave with a tall escort who had light grey fur on her legs and tail. They walked through the woods, Rose taking in the surroundings. But there it was again, the voice in her head, returning to annoy her before the increasingly important final challenge. ' _Rose..._ ' it whispered. Her vision went blurry for a split second and she almost tripped over a small metal object with a blue bulb-like thing on the end. She picked it up and stuffed it in her jeans pocket. Whatever it was it seemed important, and it looked oddly familiar. Her brain had started to ache again and she tried desperately to ignore it. When they reached the temple her escort asked her what she had chosen to be her potential warrior name and then the woman headed into the temple, telling Rose to wait outside the doors until her new chosen name was called. Rose was proud of the name she'd picked, it had so much meaning, and yet, she didn't know why. She pulled the small metal thing out of her pocket and spun it around on her fingertips. What was it? she asked herself. Why did it look so familiar? Her head began a new assault of aches, and there it was again. The voice _. 'Rose...'_ it whispered.

"Shut up, just shut up." she said out loud. She was prepared to become a warrior, and no small voice was going to stop her.

* * *

Inside the temple the Doctor was being tied, very tightly, to the sacrificial table.

"I can tell you this is absolutely unnecessary." He said for the fifth time, wincing as the rope on his left wrist was pulled particularly tight.

"Do not speak." The woman tying him up hissed back.

'Rose' he thought desperately, again trying to see if he could get in contact with her mentally. He knew she wouldn't appreciate it but he was so desperate he'd do anything in his abilities to know she was okay. 'Shut up, just shut up!' a voice hissed back. 'Rose' he thought again. He was getting to her, that was definitely her voice that had spoken. 'Just shut up!' it said again, louder this time. He did, not wanting to make her angry.

"Bring in the next warrior." the empress said from above. The doors swung open with a scraping of rock on rock, dust coming up from the ground, and a voice ringed out.

"You may enter, Bad Wolf." it said.

The Doctor's jaw dropped, as effectively as it could, given the fact he was tied to a stone table, as Rose entered the temple, wearing a frankly hideous hat. She picked up a nastily jagged and sharp knife which had been set near the entrance on a small engraved pillar.

"Rose..." He whispered, "Rose you found me! Please help me they're going to sacrifice me to a god. And I'm not too thrilled about it to be honest." He hurriedly told her.

"Correction." she said slowly, as if the words from her mouth weren't her own, " _I'm_ going to sacrifice you to a god." She began to walk towards him.

His jaw dropped again, surely she was only joking she would never... would never... she was getting awfully close with that knife.

"Rose." He pleaded, "Rose you can't be serious."

She got closer, raising the knife above him. He looked into her eyes and saw they were different, they were they eyes of a killer. "Rose they messed with your brain this isn't you." He said.

She started to mutter a chant. He decided he was probably facing the end of this regeneration so he wanted to be sure Rose knew it wasn't her fault, "Rose, this isn't your fault and... I love you," he managed, hoping he wouldn't regret saying it later, "and no matter what happens I'll still love you. Don't forget that." he whispered. He closed his eyes and waited for the knife to pierce his hearts, hoping he would be able to regenerate from an injury like that. Seconds passed, becoming ever longer as they etched by. He felt a single drop of something hit his cheek. He risked peeking up through his lashes at Rose. She stood over him, the knife hovering mere inches above him. Her eyes were wet with tears but conveyed determination to complete the task set before her. However, her hands and arms were shaking like mad as she struggled within herself. The emotion in her eyes flickered back to the Rose the Doctor knew, the kind, loving Rose he chose to travel with years ago. But just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone and her arms stopped shaking. The determination was back and he knew, at that moment, she had decided to kill him.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N :

S : Longest chapter yet! Woohoo!

I : Why do you always gat to talk first?

S : Because I'm the older one.

I : Wow, rude.

* * *

 **Update :**

S : I just want to let you guys know that chapter 8 might be awhile. I can't think of an ending to save my life so expect up to a couple days before the chapter is published. I'm working on it, I promise, I just have severe writers block and it will probably be my downfall.

* * *

With his eyes shut once more, the Doctor gave up trying to deter her efforts. He waited in tense silence, his hearts beats echoing in his mind. But he was surprised, however, when he heard a sudden clattering of metal on the ground. There was a collective gasp throughout the room and the Doctor opened his eyes fully to take in what had happened. Rose looked at him, her tears streaming down her face.

"What am I doing?" She asked taking a shaky breath. She was so confused. She had just been about to kill the Doctor, why would she ever do that? Her head was spinning and she struggled to find her bearings. "Doctor?" she looked at him, "What am I doing here? Where is here?"

"Rose you have to help me out of these bonds. I've already loosened them a little by moving my ankles and wrists but I need your help."

When she didn't move to help him he became slightly panicked. "Now!" he reiterated. He instantly regretted yelling when she winced at his tone. "Rose, I'm sorry, but you have to hurry or they'll kill both of us" he said matter of fact.

She had no idea how she was supposed to free him. She couldn't untie ropes that quickly, they'd never make it out of here alive. They'd be shot quicker than she could free his left hand. She wracked her brain desperately for an idea. Subconsciously she reached down and felt something in her pocket, but she didn't remember putting anything there. She pulled the object out and the Doctor beamed. It was the sonic screwdriver. Rose soniced the ropes in a hurry, releasing the Doctor. He sat up, rubbed his wrists, and took the screwdriver from her. None of the cat people had moved. They were too stunned by the events unfolding before them, no one had ever beat the serum contained in the juice Rose had been drinking constantly since she'd arrived. A couple of the women overcame the initial shock and raised their bows, nocking their arrows and aiming to fire at both of the people below.

The Doctor stood up and raised his hands into the air in a mock surrender, trying to keep them from firing as long as he could, which given his status in this society, wouldn't be long. "Ah.. now ya see. This... well... this was erm... wellll I did tell you this whole thing was really unnecessary." The Doctor choked out, temporarily succeeding in keeping the arrows from leaving the bows. "We were just leaving. Ta!" He grabbed Rose's hand and they ran from the temple just as a deadly shower of arrows landed where they had been standing seconds before.

They ran through the village, pursued very angry, very crazy cat-ladies, 'wow, that's a first' the Doctor thought. They made it to the forest they'd come through when they first arrived on the planet. Not far into the forest Rose started to slow down and an arrow whizzed past her head from a warrior close on their tail. The arrow brought their escape into sharp effect, it had been so close that Rose's hair was ruffled. They ran behind a tree as she dropped his hand, gasping for breath. Her head spinning and her vision blurring in and out of focus. They had escaped the cat-woman who'd been in the lead but they could hear the pursuit of the others not far away.

"Rose? What's wrong?" The Doctor asked, furrowing his brow.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." She answered, lying to him, he knew, but she grabbed his hand again with urgency and he deemed it more important for them to get to the TARDIS than for him to worry about her health at the moment. He began to run again, slower this time so she could keep up in her deteriorating condition. They rushed through the forest, winding between trees as quick as they could, arrows occasionally landing with a thunk in the trees next to them, reminding them of the people wishing to be less than friendly behind them. Their legs were being continuously whipped by strange colored brambles hiding in the undergrowth. They were turning the last bend and coming to the small hill they had landed on, the TARDIS perched safely at the top just where they'd left her. Rose tripped on a root upon exiting the forest and went flying straight into the Doctor. The Doctor hit the ground with Rose lying on top of him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. There was this root..." She said in a hurry, trying vainly to get up. The Doctor's complete thought process just blurred away. She... Rose Tyler... was lying on top of him. He stared up at her, his superior brain fogging over.

"We.. should um, get moving." He managed as a loud cry was heard not far away, they had managed to lose their pursuers, for the time being. It wouldn't be long until they were sighted, especially out in the open like they were.

"Right!" Rose said, hopping up quickly, only to fall over sideways as soon as she was on her feet. She caught herself just in time but winced and cried out in pain as her injured arm hit first. Her head was spinning again. The Doctor reached out his hand and she took it gratefully as he helped her up. They started running again reaching the small slope that led up to the TARDIS. Rose used all her remaining energy, everything she had left, and bolted up the hill after the Doctor. It seemed like forever but they finally reached the top, the ground leveling out. Rose's vision was getting steadily blurrier and she lost her balance, falling over as the world moved around her, quickly fading out to a dull black. She had passed out.

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS doors and spun around to look at Rose. But Rose was lying on the ground a few feet away.

"Rose!" He yelled franticly. Had she been hit by an arrow? What had happened? He heard the hunting calls of their pursuers and saw that they had just arrived at the bottom of the small hill. They looked up and pointed eagerly at him, readying their arrows. He grabbed Rose's arms, dragging her in the TARDIS doors, just as an arrow landed an inch shy of his leg. He slammed them shut urgently behind him. He heard the repeated thunks of arrows sinking into the beautiful blue wood of the TARDIS. He rushed to the console, pulling levers and pushing buttons that would have the TARDIS spinning safely in the time vortex in no time. He moved back to Rose, checking her pulse, then he carefully lifted her up and carried her to the TARDIS infirmary.

She was unconscious, that part was obvious, he thought as he lowered her onto one of the beds. But why? There were no new wounds, as far as he knew. He looked over her stitches where the cut used to be and discovered the problem. It was tinged a nasty shade of greenish yellow, pus was oozing from the wound and the cut had barely healed at all, if anything it looked worse. Why hadn't she told him about it? Of course it was infected. And to add to that the gash had caused her to lose too much blood and she hadn't had enough time to recover. She'd been forced to go through those challenges, and then to run for her life. If only he'd known, he wouldn't have made her run.

He decided he would have to run a blood test to look for the possibility of poison in her bloodstream from the knife she'd been cut with. He also needed to figure out the cause of the infection so he could cure it quicker. He gathered the necessary medical supplies from the storage cabinets and moved back to Rose's side. He placed a tourniquet around her good arm and grabbed a syringe, poking the needle into her vein to draw blood. Rose shifted on her sleep and gave a slight whimper.

"I'm so sorry Rose." he whispered gently.

Once he'd drawn enough blood he scanned it with the sonic screwdriver in an attempt to discover the culprit of the infection. It buzzed blue and wasn't able to present a definite answer for a full thirty seconds. He waited tensely and when the results finally came back the Doctor found that the problem was as he had guessed, the knife. It had been covered in alien germs. Luckily though it was an easy fix. He only had to pour some hydrogen peroxide over the wound, dress it, and monitor her health for a few days to be sure the infection didn't, or hadn't, spread any further.

He retrieved the hydrogen peroxide, some gauze, and some antibiotics for her to take when she woke up. He knew the sooner he cleaned the wound the sooner it would heal, and he wanted it to heal quickly. The less she was in pain the better, so he began to carefully apply the hydrogen peroxide to her skin. As soon as the offending solution made contact with her arm, Rose twitched and her eyes flew open. She whined the word 'ow' at him. He stopped immediately.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, struggling to sit up, it was just a rude awakening, that's all."

"Oh, sorry." he apologized, grabbing her good arm to help her up, "Do you want me to numb your arm so you can't feel it?"

"No that's fine." she told him, "Whatever it is you're doing doesn't hurt nearly as bad as when it was actually inflicted. In fact, it's already feeling better."

"Well, if you're sure." he told her and tentatively began to pour the hydrogen peroxide over her skin.

She gasped when it hit the injury but then she went silent and didn't react in any other way. The Doctor could tell she was biting her tongue to keep from yelling about the pain and he felt an immense pride for Rose well up inside him causing him to grin slightly, unnoticed by Rose. But then he thought about what she'd said about going home and his face fell.

Once he finished cleaning out the the cut, he unwound some gauze from the roll and gently began to bandage her arm in order to keep the wound clean. She winced a little as it was securely wound but had no other reaction. After he'd made Rose's arm look about as secure as a mummy's, he poured a small cup of antibiotics out for her to take.

"Rose, I need you to drink this for me." he said, holding up the small dosage.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Antibiotics." he answered.

She took the cup and downed it in one sip. "Eugh." she said and made a disgusted face, putting the cup down on the bedside table immediately.

"No good?" the Doctor asked.

Rose shook her head in a definite no.

"It was supposed to be banana flavored." he informed her.

"Well it's definitely not banana, that's for sure." she told him. "But on a more important topic," she added, "when am I allowed to get up and move around?"

With a sinking feeling the Doctor remembered, again, what she had told him in the jail cell, about wanting to go home and he avoided her gaze.

"You should be okay by tomorrow. You can go to your room and sleep there but you have to promise me you'll sleep, no reading. You need all the rest you can get, it will help your body produce more blood cells. You lost way too much blood to do any more of anything really. At least for a couple days."

"Well, okay." she conceded. "I guess I do need the sleep. It'll be nice to have my own bed back and not have to curl up in a corner with barely any blankets on some alien planet." she got up and with the help of the Doctor made it to her room without falling over. "See you in about fourteen hours." she said and opened the door to her room, ready to catch up on her missed sleep.

"Yep." he said, feigning happiness, dreading the moment in a few days when he'd have to say goodbye. "Rose I-" he started but as she turned to fix her kind, loving and beautiful eyes on his to hear what he had to say, he stopped himself for fear he would let his emotions get away from him.

"Yes?" she asked, waiting patiently for him to speak.

"I... hope you sleep well." he said, catching himself before he could say the three most important words in the english language. He wasn't sure if she'd heard him say it when she was in the trance, or if she even remembered it. But at the moment he wasn't sure if he was ready to confess his feelings out loud to a fully conscious Rose.

"Thanks..." she said, sounding a little confused, "Goodnight Doctor."

"Goodnight." he replied as she shut her door. The second he turned away from her bedroom he slapped himself in the face. 'Idiot!' he thought, 'just tell her the truth!' But she wouldn't be back now for fourteen whole hours. Plenty of time to come up with the perfect thing to say. Hopefully.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N:

S : I am so very sorry this took so long. I would give excuses but it's just the usual, school and sports. And band. So here's the next chapter, late, and short. But at least it's here. Also I'm thinking about maybe writing a sequel, but I'm not sure yet, I'll have to talk to Isabel.

* * *

Fourteen hours later, precisely, Rose emerged from her room. Her hair was a bit mussed from sleep but her arm was feeling much better. She walked into the console room to find the Doctor messing with buttons and levers with no particular pattern or reason.

"What're you doing?" she asked him.

"Oh, just trying to figure something out." he told her, not looking up. She wondered why he'd been so reluctant to look at her but figured it was just nothing. Although, if he didn't look at her soon, she'd become suspicious.

"So, where are we going today?" she asked him.

He dodged behind the central column and said, "You're not going anywhere. I need to make sure your arm is healing properly before we go on another adventure."

"Okay." she said, following him around the console, trying to achieve eye contact but getting nowhere, he kept dodging out of her line of sight.

"So when are you gonna check if my arm is healing properly?" she asked.

"I will in a minute. Just go to the infirmary and I'll meet you there, I've just got to finish up some maintenance on the TARDIS."

"When you say 'maintenance', does that mean you're purposely breaking the TARDIS so you can fix it again?"

"No." he said incredulously, "I really am fixing it this time. Just meet me in the infirmary, please."

She noted sadness in his voice but didn't know why. Her injury was most definitely not life threatening and she couldn't think of any other reason why he'd be sad. Maybe it was because she'd passed out while they were running away? It was possible he blamed himself for that, even though he shouldn't. They would have been killed if they'd run any slower. So why was he sad? She decided to do as he asked and wait in the infirmary, but she was going to find the source to his sorrow and get rid of it. She couldn't stand to see him like this.

* * *

Rose walked down the hallway to the infirmary and the Doctor sighed in relief when she had vanished around the corner. He had been given fourteen hours to come up with something, anything, to say and he still had no idea what to tell Rose. He had occupied himself with 'repairs' to the TARDIS before even thinking about his problem. But what would he say? He had to come up with something quick as he had mere minutes until Rose became suspicious and came looking for him.

After a couple minutes of thinking, the Doctor decided there was no hope in planning, he'd just have to make it up as he went along, he did it all the time anyway, it couldn't be too difficult. So, he stood up and slowly made his way to the infirmary.

* * *

It had been six minutes since the Doctor told Rose to go to the infirmary. What was he doing? She knew he had no real work to do on the TARDIS, so why was he taking so long? He was worrying her, she needed to help him, but how?

The Doctor walked in and there was a tense silence as he sat down across from Rose to check her arm. He unravelled the bandage and looked at the cut. It was healing quickly and there was a thin red line where it used to be. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. He suspected the TARDIS had something to do with it.

"It's healing very well." he told her. "You can go home tomorrow."

"What?!" Rose said, standing up, "You're taking me home? Why? Is it because I was hurt? Come on Doctor, people get hurt, don't make me leave just because of a silly cut."

"What do you mean, 'make me leave'? I'm not making you do anything." he retorted, his back to her as he got some more bandage for her arm.

"Yes you are!" she said, "I don't want to go back to the boring flat on the Powell Estate and eat chips for the rest of my life. I want to run away from monsters, I want to save people."

"But, in the cell on Canisellus you said you wanted to go home."

"Oh!" she realized what he was talking about, "When I said that I was talking about the TARDIS. I don't ever want to leave." she told him and stood up, walking to his side, "I promised you forever and I meant it."

He turned and looked at her for the first time in what felt like ages, but was in reality only a couple hours, if that.

"Really?" he asked tentatively.

"Really." she replied.

He wrapped his arms around her and they hugged for a good thirty seconds. When he pulled back, he opened his mouth to say something, important words on the tip of his tongue.

Rose noticed his hesitation. "Is everything alright?" she asked him, "You look like you want to say something."

"Nope, nothing." he lied.

"Okay..." Rose said, deciding to change the subject, "the sooner you get my arm healed the sooner we can run again, right?"

"Yep." he said and smiled at her, wondering if he'd ever get the courage to tell her his true feelings.

* * *

Two days later Rose's cut had healed completely and to the Doctor's surprise, she had no scar. He had thanked thanked the TARDIS multiple times for that. He wouldn't have to worry about a Jackie Tyler slap now, unless Rose told her mum about this adventure, which was bound to happen.

They stood in the console room together, the destination set to random, their next adventure awaiting them.

"Ready?" the Doctor asked her, hand on the lever.

"Absolutely." she replied.

He pulled down and sent them flying through the vortex. The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS, as it should be.

THE END


End file.
